Mike Bailey

How to Save Money

2 minute read

Are you price conscious in your everyday spending? A lot of us aren’t for the
basic reason that it consumes brain cycles for little percieved reward.
Quitting smoking led to an adjustment in the way I value money. Forking out $20 a
day for something the literally goes up in smoke can make saving $5 a day on
parking seem pretty irrelevant.

In considering my monthly spend I found a number of ways I could spend less
without any real impact on my quality of life. Perhaps some of these could
help you?

Stop Smoking, Start Vaping ($600/mon)

I’d describe myself as dependant on nicotine. My pack a day habit was costing
me $600 a month. I’m now using a vapouriser to get my nicotine fix for $20 a
month.

Don’t buy premium fuel unless your car needs it ($8/mon)

I’ve not a petrol head and haven’t even researched this one very well but started
saving around $4 on a tank of fuel by not paying for premium.

Australian petrol stations market several types of unleaded petrol. They tend to
be 91, 95 and 98 “octane”. I don’t know much about fuel and the higher numbers
cost more so I tended to choose 95 or 98 thinking I must be getting more from
it.

It turns out some cars (European) require high octane fuels or their performance
deteriorates. I checked my Subaru manual and it said I was fine using 91 octane fuel.